Problems with final outcome emerging.
An excerpt.
San Joaquin restoration plan: First up, a big clash over its cost
By Michael Doyle - Bee Washington BureauPublished 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 16, 2006
Many farmers and environmentalists now agree on restoring the San Joaquin River. They do not, however, agree on how much it will cost.
Environmentalists believe $250 million will suffice. Farmers served by Friant Dam think $800 million is more like it. It's a concrete disagreement -- one of several confronting authors of a historic river restoration plan that's also still a work in progress.
"It's a moving target," top Interior Department official Jason Peltier said of the differing cost estimates this week. "We have a range, based on the realization that there are lots of engineering and other decisions that still need to be made."
Formerly a representative of Central Valley Project irrigators, Peltier now serves as the Interior Department's principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science. That effectively makes the California native the Bush administration's point man on California water issues.
On Thursday, Peltier joined with four members of Congress, and a crowd of staff members and top negotiators for a closed-door, Capitol Hill briefing on the ambitious San Joaquin River restoration plan. The sentiments revealed a spread nearly as wide as the varying cost estimates.
The plan calls for water to start flowing over Friant Dam and into the San Joaquin River's parched channel in 2009. Farmers on the east side of the Valley would lose an estimated 15 percent of their water annually, as the hydrologic price for getting spring-run chinook salmon back into the river by Dec. 31, 2012.
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, who helped bring about the negotiations, called the resulting agreement a "momentous step" because it ends an 18-year legal battle. Next Thursday, as chairman of the House water and power subcommittee, Radanovich will chair the first hearing into the settlement.
But while Radanovich is expressing optimism, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, exited the briefing Thursday as angry as ever.
"I think this is a gross misuse of public funds," Nunes said. "You're going to spend $800 million to bring back some fish?"
